Avec-culottes

I saw Salmon Rushdie at the gym!

No, no. I kid. But that would be awesome.

Gentry has threatened a boycott if I don’t update my “diary” right this minute.

I responded that a Gentry-run boycott would probably be pretty interesting as she’d surely invoke some ironic Revolutionary theme--Avec-Culottes perhaps. (Gentry could school a professor on the finer points of French history). The way I imagine it, everyone in Gentry’s boycott would be wearing cashmere underpants.

We will be seeing Marie Antoinette together Wednesday. She emails:I hope they show the part where Les Peuples grab the Princess de Polinac when she's on rue Montorgeuil and tear her limb from limb before taking her severed head to the hair dresser to have it recoiffed so they could put it on a stick and shove it up in front of the window of where they were keeping Marie Antoinette in prison.

Comments

"I saw Salmon Rushdie at the gym!

No, no. I kid. But that would be awesome."

You have an odd idea of awesome. Normal people are grateful to NOT see Salmon Rushdie at the gym -- or, for that matter, in the pool, taking a shower, at the beach or really any other context in which he might plausibly present himself in an advanced state of undress...

Salman Rushdie, are you sure you want to see him ? I just struggled for more than one week trying to finish Midnight's Children and I gave up when I only had 50 pages to read on 500...

Marie-Antoinette was a mystery for me when I was younger but the movie doesn't seem to reflect her life at all at least not from the preview. The movie sounds too American and not enough French, but maybe the preview was just really badly done and the movie is better. Tell us all about it !

That is so exciting - not the thought of a sweaty Salman, ick- Marie Antoinette I mean. It's not out in the U.K until 2009 - maybe a slight exaggeration but so annoying. I will be in Paris from 16 - 25 June so I hope to see the film. Hope to see you then to discuss wigs, the genius of S.C, K.D as M.A and New Order's place in period drama's?!

I read the Marie Antoinette bio about a year and a half ago, and was astounded by all the names I ran into "on" the streets. Can't wait to see it later this week and see what they emphasise fact or fiction. Especially as I ended up eating at a table next to Sofia Copola when they were filming in town!

And now I have to know where you work out!! oh wait... how about I just see some nice looking guy reading a Salman Rushdie book :)

Oh, very smart to mention Salman Rushdie! Now anybody who types his name in google is going to end up on your blog, ha!

Of course, I want to see Marie Antoinette too! I'm such a big fan of Sofia Coppola. Plus, you know how we French are curious to see how Americam film directors see French history. Though S. Coppola is definitely NOT like any other American film director :-)

I'm shocked that so many people are looking forward to this movie...I've only seen the trailer thus far, but it brings to mind a teeny-bopper period piece with Jessica Simpson in the lead sporting the deathly continental accent. (I fear these words will come back to haunt me one day...)

The soundtrack alone discourages me...rock/alternative and period pieces generally don't work as a rule of thumb...(at least in my book). Crikey.

Prepare for disappointment...the Croisette buzz is that the movie is all-fluff. Apparently, the revolution only get's 15 minutes at the very end. No one understand the 80s soundtrack, but it's supposed to look good. But don't all period films?

Has no one noticed that portraying Marie Antoinette as a fun-loving sensualist with which all poufiasses the world over can identify is, from the perspective of French republicanism, a supremely reactionnary and counter-revolutionary gesture.

Hey, I embrace my curmudgeonly...ness, thank you very much! :0) Kirsten Dunst = Jessica Simpson's acting ability...with tiny teeth. I generally avoid any movies with her in the lead. And she seems to play the same character over and over again. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was the best thing that ever happened to her. But even then, she played herself in the movie. How fun, play yourself over and over again. Yeah!

Erm, may I respectfully submit? That the Polignac thing is a myth? The Duchess de Polignac died of cancer shortly after learning about the death of Marie-A. The Princess of Polignac was an heiress and (notable) lesbian and artistic patron in the late 19th c. Ah, but the myth is so much more deliciously gruesome ...

You've got me excited to see the movie. While I think the soundtrack will distract the hell out of me, I love SC and I looove Kirsten Dunst, despite the naysayers.